Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 7/29: ZZ Top, “Tush”
Texas blues-rockers ZZ Top are undergoing their first personnel change in 51 years today because bassist and second lead vocalist Dusty Hill died in his sleep Tuesday. The band became famous in the early years of MTV, which debuted about the same time ZZ Top began to augment their power-trio boogie with new wave trappings. […]
Song of the Day 7/28: Allman Brothers Band, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More”
It’s a good time to eat a peach — it’s the height of a better-than-average peach season. It’s also a good time to play “Eat a Peach,” the soundtrack of many a lazy Rehoboth Beach day back in the ’70s. The band, still basking in the success of “Live at Fillmore East,” was in the […]
Song of the Day 7/27: The Coasters, “Young Blood”
Aged-out frat boy Matt Gaetz thinks he’s somehow going to survive his scandalous behavior with underage females, even in the face of stories like this one, in which the sister of his fiancee calls Gaetz a “literal pedophile” (she later corrected that to “ephebophile,” the term for someone attracted to post-pubescent teens). Where could Gaetz […]
Song of the Day 7/26: Iggy Pop, “China Girl”
For Gerald Brady. Yeah, you know the hit version (No. 10 US, No. 2 UK) that Nile Rodgers produced for David Bowie, but it was first recorded six years earlier by Bowie’s co-writer, Iggy Pop, for his debut solo LP, 1977’s “The Idiot,” which Bowie produced. According to a Bowie biography, the song was inspired […]
Song of the Day 7/25: The Weakerthans, “Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call”
When people complained about Bob Dylan being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature because “lyrics aren’t literature,” they betrayed their ignorance about literature. Some of the earliest writings in the Western canon, including the Bible’s Book of Psalms, originated as song lyrics. The word “psalm” itself is derived from the Greek word meaning music and, […]
Song of the Day 7/23: John Mayer, “Last Train Home”
The last thing I expected this summer was brand-new yacht rock, yet here it is. Someone played this for me and dared me to guess who it was, and all I could come up with was “Stevie Winwood or maybe Mark Knopfler but somebody else singing.” The last person I would have guessed was John […]
Song of the Day 7/22: Bruce Springsteen, “Wings for Wheels”
An odd story about a Bruce Springsteen composition popped up recently — an argument about the lyrics to his iconic song “Thunder Road.” Since the release of his “Born to Run” album in August 1975, everyone has sung the first line of the song as “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves,” with good reason: […]
Song of the Day 7/21: Big Star, “Watch the Sunrise”
As Jason noted, raging wildfires are turning the West into a hellscape, but it is giving us colorful sunrises and sunsets. The rest of the day needs some work — the sun is obscured today by the remains of millions of dead trees. Big Star formed in 1971 when Alex Chilton, who left the Box […]
Song of the Day 7/20: Bo Burnham, “Bezos (I & II)”
I really wanted someone to headline the Bezos in Space story “Giant Dick Travels to Space in Giant Dick,” but for some reason he actually has fanboys. I think comedian Bo Burnham is mocking Bezos, but I can’t be sure; he posted a tweet congratulating Bezos this morning, and I couldn’t tell if that was […]
Song of the Day 7/19: Bill Withers, “Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?”
I hadn’t heard this one in ages until Meshell Ndegeocello’s cover, which I’d never heard at all, popped up WXPN the other day. The funk comes from musicians who had been the core of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, particularly bassist Melvin Dunlap and guitarist Benorce Blackmon. The LP also launched the long studio […]
Song of the Day 7/16: General Johnson and Joey Ramone, “Rockaway Beach”
Carolina beach music was invented for this time of year but, despite the title, “Rockaway Beach” is not beach music. At least, it wasn’t before General Johnson enlisted Joey Ramone to join him in a beach-music reworking of the punk classic for a mid-’90s compilation album. General Johnson is known to most music fans as […]
Song of the Day 7/15: Old 97s, “Bird in a Cage”
In the ’90s the Old 97s were one of the top acts in what was then known as alt-country (now Americana). Saleswise their career peaked in 2001 with their third and final major-label release, “Satellite Rides,” a disc full of Rhett Miller’s catchiest country-rock. This tune was one of my favorites, and apparently it’s one […]
Song of the Day 7/14: Huey Lewis and the News, “I Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”
Did you ever hear a song you liked by a band you never heard before, only to find that most of their music sounds nothing like the first song you heard? That was my experience with this tune, a minor hit for Huey Lewis and the News from their second LP (and first successful one) […]
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